The invention relates generally to the field of automated optical detection of nucleic acids. The present invention is directed, in general, to scalable reaction and detection systems for automated high throughput sequencing of nucleic acids.
The advent of the human genome project required that improved methods for sequencing nucleic acids, such as DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid), be developed. Determination of the entire 3,000,000,000 base sequence of the human genome has provided a foundation for identifying the genetic basis of numerous diseases. However, a great deal of work remains to be done to identify the genetic variations associated with each disease, and the current cost of sequencing 6,000,000,000 bases for each individual (the size of the diploid human genome) remains not only exceedingly difficult, but also cost-prohibitive.
Numerous companies have approached the challenge of high throughput DNA sequencing with the development of DNA sequencing systems. Although such systems have decreased the cost and increased the efficiency of DNA sequencing, these systems are generally self-contained units with multiple interdependent components. Such single unit sequencing systems have numerous limitations, including limited scalability, a time lag in the introduction of innovations to specific components, and direct dependency of function of the entire system on each component of the system.
Flow cells for sequencing reaction and analysis are known. Examples of such flow cells include those comprising any substrate used for the performance of a sequencing reaction, such as those described in more detail herein, as well as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,958,760, 6,403,376, 6,960,437, 7,025,935, 7,118,910, 7,220,549, 7,244,559, 7,264,929, WO 01/35088, and Published U.S. Patent App. 2007/0128610.
The current invention addresses limitations of known prior art.